


Never Mistake Motion for Action

by lolwhythough



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-05-31 23:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6492622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolwhythough/pseuds/lolwhythough
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Big things aren't really the problem. It's the build up of smaller things. All the cuts and bruises that add up to something bigger.</p><p>Judy guesses she never really understood that until now. </p><p>"Never Mistake Motion for Action"-Ernest Hemingway</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“It could have been worse,” Nick mused, sipping his coffee. “You could have walked in on something actually important.”

“But it was embarrassing, you should have seen the look on his face!” Judy lamented, her paws coming up to cover her face. Nick leaned over and gave her a comforting pat on the back. 

“Listen, we all like Gazelle. So what if the guy has an app that…uh…”

“Swaps his face with a tiger in booty shorts,” Judy finished. Nicks eyebrows knitted and he took another swig of coffee to stifle his laughter. 

“Yeah. That. The point is, he wasn’t mad. I wouldn’t get your cottontail in a twist over it.” He stuck the coffee stirrer in his mouth, chewing it. 

“You’ll both get over…” As he spoke, the unmistakable feeling of something wrapping around his tail became apparent. Judy’s expression turned quizzical as Nick’s ears shot up. She followed his gaze to see a young badger with both hands tightly grasping Nick’s tail. 

“Hey there!” A nervous smile crept on her face and she reached out to the little tyke. Nick’s left eye twitched but he forced a friendly expression. “Whatcha got there?”

The tiny badger looked up, brown eyes innocently peering at Judy. 

“Bad guy.”

Nick’s posture stiffened and Judy’s ears wilted down her back. 

“Bad guy…?” She repeated, hands shrinking back in confusion. Her eyes flicked up to stare quizzically at Nick but he avoided her gaze. Choosing instead to inspect the tiny puddles of dripped coffee on the table. 

“Matthew, don’t run off!” An older badger with grey flecking her muzzle bounded towards them. She hurriedly swept the toddler in her arms. Matthew—Judy presumed that was the young badger’s name— dropped Nick’s tail in surprise. Slowly, it slinked behind him, the fur dented where Matthew had grasped it. 

Then, the older badger did something that thoroughly shocked Judy. 

She turned and left without another word.

No apology, no acknowledgement of what her son had said or done. She had pretended that they weren’t there. 

No, Judy corrected herself, she had pretended that Nick wasn’t there. 

Her fur bristled and she hopped down from her seat. 

“Where you headed to, fluff?” He asked, knowing full well. He plucked the abused coffee stirrer from his mouth and set it down on the table. “You’ve still got half a cup of decaf here.”

“Nick, don’t do that,” She felt her chest swell with emotion. “Don’t pretend like that was…like that was okay. Because it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t,” He agreed, solemnly nodding his head. His tail came to rest in his lap and he began smoothing out the fur. “Matt really messed up my fur. That kiddo sure did have a grip.”

Judy’s nose scrunched up and she shot an angry look at the retreating figures of the badgers. To fit the mood, it began to rain. Nick tilted his head towards the sky, eyes half lidded. 

“You owe me five dollars. I knew we shouldn’t have sat outside.”


	2. Chapter 2

Neither of them brought an umbrella, so they waited for the bus inside the coffee shop. Judy’s anger had begun to build in her chest. The more she thought about it, the more she regretted not acting in her friend’s defense. Her rage was a constant fire growing larger by the second. 

Nick didn’t seem bothered at all. 

“I feel like we should talk about it.” She reasoned, putting a hand on his side. If he’s bothered by the action he doesn’t mention it. 

“What’s there to talk about? I know how you like to keep a conversation going but there’s not much to discuss here.”

The rain picks up, splattering on the glass doors in front of them. Judy takes a moment to watch the drops race down to the bottom. She thinks back to the young badgers words and a heavy feeling fills the pit of her stomach. 

“…Nick, he called you a bad guy.”

“Kids say the darndest things.”

“Nick,” Her voice has an edge to it that makes him heave out a sigh. “You’re not a bad guy.”

“Well, gee, flatfoot. Here I was doubting if police officers really were the opposite of ‘bad guys’. But your reassurance really sealed the deal for me there.” His tail flicked from side to side, a telltale sign that he was annoyed. 

“I just thought it was unfair,” She defended, rubbing her arm. “You don’t have to lash out at me because of how those badgers treated you.”

“I’m not lashing out because of the badgers. I’m lashing out,” his tail thrashed, “because you won’t let it go.”

“Because you won’t even talk about it!” She stomped her foot against the carpeted floor, nose twitching. They were facing each other now, Nick’s face lowered towards hers. 

“I said there’s nothing to talk about!” He clenched his jaw and his teeth showed. Judy’s paws balled into fists. 

“Excuse me.” Both heads snapped towards the voice. Behind them stood a young pig in an apron and a checkered shirt; a waitress, Nick realized. 

“Is…” The pig was visibly trembling, and paused to take a deep breath. Once she had composed herself, she tried again.

“Is he bothering you, miss?” She had her notepad gripped in both hands, as if to act as a shield against the opposing fox. 

Judy’s eyes narrowed, “No, of course not. Why would you think that?” She barked out a laugh, a bitter, short sound. “Just because he’s a—Nick!”

But he had already walked out the door. 

She spared one furious glare in the direction of the waitress. Confusion was clearly written across the pig’s face and both parties seemed at a loss for words. Then, she turned and headed after Nick.

From the moment she opened the door, rain pelted her so hard that it hurt. Nick didn’t slow down his steady pace. How was he suddenly so much faster than her? 

“Nick!” Her voice was lost in the downpour. He turned a corner and she sped after him, sliding on the blacktop. 

But there wasn’t a red furred fox in sight. 

She had lost him. 

She bounded around the corner again, to see if he had just turned around. She checked behind garbage cans and bushes and even the few trees wide enough to possibly hide him. He was nowhere to be found.

She headed back to her bus-stop, wet and miserable. 

The rain soaked through her clothes and into her fur. It made her feel so much heavier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll proofread it later lol  
> It's not a fic with Nick in it until he stomps away in the rain. As always, comments are appreciated! I take into account any and all criticism.


	3. Chapter 3

She struggled with her lock for a moment, the cold rain making her muscles ache.

Finally, the lock clicked and she slipped inside. 

Not for the first time that night, her mind flicked back to Nick. How did he get home? Did he walk? Was he safe? She slowly reached for her phone in her back pocket. Maybe she should...

No. The best thing to do would give him time to cool off. 

She shook her head, water droplets flying in every direction. With a slow, tired shuffle, she headed towards the bathroom. Every part of her ached to fall into bed and Judy had to pry her eyes away from its image. Struggling to keep moving, she continued towards the shower. Going to bed wet and cold was a bad idea. 

Nick’s face flashed through her mind, snarling and furious. She twisted the water to a burning temperature and stepped inside. 

When she finished, she dried off and collapsed into bed, too tired to brush her teeth.

—

Her alarm blared and her eyes shot open. She quickly tapped it off, excruciatingly aware of the awful taste in her mouth. The reason why she hadn’t brushed her teeth flooded back to her and she couldn’t help but flinch from the memory.

Going to work didn’t cheer her up. 

Nick was late. 

Maybe it was the self-absorbed portion of her mind, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how it might be her fault. He wouldn’t procrastinate coming into work just because of her.

Would he?

“Hey, Ben, can I ask you a question?” 

“Sure thing!” He spun his chair around to face her, his expression growing concerned “But uh, can I ask what’s wrong? You’re ears are kinda droopy.” He made his point by flicking his own, which were upright. 

“It’s nothing big, really.” She waved her paw, forcing nonchalance. “It’s just, you know, I’ve noticed that Nick still hasn’t shown up yet. Weird, right?” 

“Oh, Nick called in sick today. I figured he would have already texted you or something. Are you guys in a fight?” He rested his face on his paw, a concerned smile on his face.

Judy’s ears perked up in a nervous energy and she was quick to wave away his accusation,  
“No! No we’re good. Maybe he just forgot? You know how he is,” she spluttered. 

“Mhm. Well, if you see him later tell him I said ‘Hi’, okay?” The Cheetah gave her another friendly nod before going back to reading his monitor.

“Will do!” Her smile seemed much more akin to a grimace but if Ben noticed, he didn’t say anything. 

Did Nick call in sick just to avoid her? Did she really hurt him that much?

The rest of her shift primarily consisted of foot tapping, pencil gnawing and unintentionally annoying the bulk of the mammals around her. When she finally clocked out, the tension seemed to lift out of the room and Ben couldn’t help but breathe out a dramatic sigh of relief.  
“I hope they make up fast, I don’t know how much more stress I can take.”

—

Nick lived in the rainforest district.

The rain pelted her bus window and the sharp memory of yesterday bit at her mind. If Nick was upset at her, he should confront her about it. If she was causing him to avoid work, there was a serious issue.

She came prepared this time, umbrella in hand and resolve in her chest. 

Nick lived on the top floor but climbing the stairs proved no problem. She liked to think that it was because of her pique physical health rather than being a rabbit. Either one was a pretty an advantage. She wondered if Nick ever got tired of climbing this many stairs.

She arrived at his door, biting her lip. He didn’t have a number on his door, like the other tenants. Judy had begun to suspect his apartment was just a remodeled version of the building’s attic. Sure, it had its creaks and cracks, but it was still bigger than hers.

Big enough to stay in for a while. Would he continue to call of days if she didn’t do anything about it?

Without another thought, she firmly rapped her knuckles on the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one turned out kind of rushed. Sorry about that!


	4. Chapter 4

The suspense hung heavy in the air. 

Then, there was shuffling. His footsteps were different, she noticed. Less sure, clumsy. 

The door creaked open and it was painfully obvious he had just woken up. His fur was disheveled, eyes drooping. 

“Cottontail,” he greeted her in a slurred, gravelly voice. 

He had been drinking. Judy’s heart thumped a beat faster. She had been such a horrible friend, to drive him to such a point. How could she let this happen?

Nick’s expression pinched and he turned away, coughing roughly into his arm. 

He faced her once more, swiping a paw across his mouth. Understanding slowly came to Judy and she could feel herself flush. 

Oh.

“You’re…actually sick,” she said, dumbly pointing towards him. He looked at her incredulously. 

“That is usually the reason why people call in sick to work, Judy.” he punctuated the sentence with another cough. 

“You didn’t dry off before going to bed!” She thrusted and accusatory finger at him and he rolled his eyes. 

“I like to think the blankets act as my own personal towel.” He leaned against the door frame, raising an eyebrow. “What’s up fluff?”

She frowned, pressing her paws together before eyeing him up and down. 

“I’m…checking up on you!” His ears perked up at that. “Clawhauser said you were sick, so I came to make sure you were okay. Because that’s what friends do. And I’m your friend so…” She held up her arms, in a dramatic show of herself. “I’m here.” 

A lazy smile moved its way to his face. “Well, I’m flattered by your concern.” He pushed the door open the rest of the way with his foot. “But that still doesn’t explain why you hippity hopped all the way to the rainforest district. A phone call would have been just as nice.”

She froze for a second. She needed time to come up with a lie. Maybe being sick might impair his knack for calling bluffs.

“Well I think these kinds of things are…are much more heartfelt in person. Don’t you?”

Nick smirked, a retort on the tip of his tongue, “Me? I...” His nose wrinkled and he blinked. Then, he pitched forward and sneezed. The sound echoed throughout the hall and Judy’s ears flattened against the back of her head.

She couldn’t fight the look of disgust on her face.

“Augh! You sneeze like a dog!” She stepped back, cautious of whatever illness Nick might have spread throughout the air. 

“Technically I’m in that family.” He sniffed, rubbing at his nose. “Sorry we can’t all have cute little bunny sneezes.”

“At least get a tissue!” She huffed, exasperated. 

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t be a perfect gentleman right now. I’m too busy standing out in the cold entertaining you.” 

“Then let me in! It’s not that hard, Nick, really.” Her foot tapped against the floor impatiently.

He shrugged before turning on his heel and walked inside. She followed, closing the door behind her. 

Idly, she wondered if his memory of their fight was still as fresh as hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while! It's pretty slow compared to the others. I procrastinated because I wanted to make it longer but meh.   
> Calculus is sucking up a lot of my time, sorry about that.


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn’t awkward. 

Nick and Judy didn’t do awkward. 

So why did Judy find her foot thumping anxiously when Nick closed the door behind her?

“Not to be a bad host, but I do live on the top floor.” He pointed towards the ground, “which means I have downstairs neighbors.” 

“Oh!” she froze, “Whoops! Haha.”

She grinned too wide. He rubbed the back of his neck, tail flicking anxiously. 

“Well, I’m parched. Water? Tea?” Judy waited expectantly, one ear tilted to the side. “That’s it. Water or Tea. Look, I’m not a barista.” She sighed. 

“In that case I’m good. You probably could use some tea yourself, though! It sounds like you took a cheese grater to the throat.” She playfully jabbed him in the side. He coughed roughly and rubbed at his  
abdomen. 

“Gee, you sure know how to flatter a guy.” He made sure to step out of reach, slinking over to the couch. “But I’m good on the tea. To be honest, I’m glad you didn’t ask for some. I’m not too great at making it.”  
The springs in the cushions protested as he landed heavily, swinging his feet up to rest on a nearby ottoman. 

“You don’t know how to make tea?” She asked incredulously, frowning. “Well, when you have over 300 brothers and sisters you learn a thing or two. And one of those things just happens to be how to make a great cup of tea!” She was rambling. Was her nose twitching? It felt like her nose was twitching. 

“Carrots I don’t need—“He trailed off, looking at her stiff ears. Her hands fumbled behind her back. Judy seemed to have an unquenchable need to constantly do something. Anything. He vaguely remembers her taking apart her own coffee maker just to put it back together. “…Lots of sugar.Thanks.”

Immediately her ears eased back into a relaxed curve, relieved by the idea of making herself useful. 

“I’ll get the water boiling.” She walked into the kitchen as she spoke and began to shuffle through his cabinets. She didn’t have to worry about making a mess; his entire kitchen seemed to be in disarray. There wasn’t really an order so much as “things that spoil are in the fridge and everything else goes somewhere that’s not on the floor”. 

Meanwhile, Nick was struggling to stay awake. He had some manners, after all. A sleeping host was probably considered a bad one.  
He reached for the remote and flicked on his T.V. It was a boxy, glitching thing but it got the job done. Judy would always bug him about getting one with better quality but he argued that his held sentimental value; Finnick had helped him spot it at a flea market.  
Now, it broadcasted the news in its fuzzy, sepia toned way.  
He eased back into the couch, eyes drooping. 

—

She watched his chest rise and fall and couldn’t fight the smile on her face. 

Of course, she was expecting this. The fox couldn’t keep his eyes open during traffic patrol much less on the couch with a cold. 

She set the tray on the coffee table; tea and soup could always be heated up. They were both relatively easy to make. And she was especially proud that she managed to score a stray can of Cowbell’s in the back of his cupboard. 

She would let him sleep, she decided, making her way towards the door.

“m’Sorry.”

She turned, eyes wide. “Excuse me?” 

He sluggishly reached out and engulfed her hand in his. 

She gasped, “Jam on toast, you’re warm!” Burning up, she realized. 

He didn’t seem to hear her, “I never say I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He shook his head, his ears flopping against his skull. Judy fumbled, reaching towards him with her other paw.  


“Listen, you’re important. I’m sorry.” Judy paused before slowly nodding, smoothing back his ears. “I’m sorry,” he breathed, tilting his head down, “I’m sorry.” 

—

He woke up slow and hazy, like unsticking yourself from a car seat. Gross, if he were more awake he would’ve come up with a better metaphor. Probably. Whatever. 

The T.V. was still on, he noted. It wasn’t the worst thing to wake up to, the voices were low and soft. It almost made him drift back to sleep—  
—if not for the very persistent feeling of something dripping down his neck.

He peeled it off his forehead, examining the object in his paws. It was still cold, which meant it had been put on very recently. 

“Lovely.” He sighed, tossing the rag on the coffee table. 

“You’re awake!” His ears twitched towards the voice.

“So I am. Don’t tell me you’ve been waiting for me with baited breath.” His sleepy grin fell a little at her worried expression. 

“I mean,” she lightly jumped up beside him, “kinda.”

“That’s a little forward.” He yawned, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. She shifted closer to him, he wasn’t as warm as before, that was a good sign. 

Judy pursed her lips before taking in a deep breath, “I was pushy at the café.” She wrung her hands. “Sorry.” 

Nick’s face softened and he slid an arm around her. Unconsciously, his tail did as well. 

“You’re not the one who tried to make off with my tail. Anyway, you can’t fight the world. Knowing you, you’ll probably try to. I’d rather you didn’t. It’s not good for our “friendly cop” image. Did you see our new poster? They whitened my teeth! As if I don’t already have an award winning smile.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes, “Don’t even get me started on cropping off the end of my tail.”  
She laughed, butting her head into his shoulder, “I guess you did look pretty goofy.”

“We both looked pretty goofy.”

And that was fine. The world was dark and rainy and full of used tissues littering the floor. But as long as they could still laugh with each other, then Judy figured everything would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! I could always do an Epilogue if people want me to but I also feel comfortable leaving this how it is.  
> Thanks for keeping up with me and my inconsistent posting! It's been great, guys! All your support really helped me :)

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I chugged out at 1 am. I have a direction in mind that I'm headed with this I swear.  
> I don't write often, so constructive criticism really would help me out here.


End file.
